Star Cruise: Stowaway Plus Rescue and Token Read online

  She didn’t believe for a moment that he was the kind of guy to sit around inactive. “I bet you won’t make it a month before you find yourself getting restless. More tubers?”

  “I’m good, thanks. Are these real chives?” He savored a forkful of the eggs. “Amazing taste.”

  She sipped her synthetic coffee, debating whether to explain where the roses and fresh spices came from. Did he really want to know, or was he just making polite conversation? The detail about his mother was touching. He might look like a stereotypical, lethal soldier from a popular trideo show, all muscles and tatts, but there was apparently a nice guy who loved his mom underneath. Charlie was a breath of fresh air in a very stale life.

  “This is the best breakfast I’ve had in years,” he said while she was pondering. “You have to let me buy you dinner tonight—it’s only fair.”

  “It’ll have to be early, so I’m not dancing on a full stomach.” Leaning forward, she asked, “What are you doing with your day?”

  “Got no plans whatsoever. I’ll be at the casino tonight, to cheer you on. I’m guessing this station doesn’t offer much else in the way of diversion.” He screwed his face up in a comical expression and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry—that sure came out wrong. Even if there were a hundred shows here, nothing would be better than watching you dance.”

  Laughing, she patted his hand.“Apology accepted. Would you like to tag along with me? I’ll show you where the roses and the chives come from. Of course it might be boring for someone who’s used to an adventurous life in the military.”

  “Time spent with you could never be boring,” he said, voice low. “Don’t sell yourself short, lady.”

  Flustered, she got to her feet, collecting the nearest dishes. He came to join her, taking the dirty plates from her. “Let me deal with these, since you cooked. Fair’s fair.”

  “All right. I’ve got to change and then I’ll be right out.” She hastened into her tiny bedroom, closed the portal, and then shed the dress in one quick motion. Regretfully she donned her beige station uniform and practical work shoes before she re-entered the kitchen. He was sniffing the roses again, eyes closed.

  Enjoying the sight of the big soldier appreciating her flowers, she said, “You can have one, if you want. There are more where those came from.”

  “Thanks, I prefer to enjoy them here, if you don’t mind.” Eyebrows raised, he seemed to be studying her attire.

  “I have a day job,” she said, answering the unspoken question. “Dancing doesn’t pay the bills, believe me. You ready for a hike?” After retrieving her toolkit from the corner, she preceded him out the portal into the corridor. It was a short walk deeper into the station, past his rental unit, and then she keyed open the door to the maintenance tunnels. “Although they’re not really tunnels, we station rats fell into calling them that,” she explained.

  “Works for me.” He checked both directions and followed her into the poorly lit hallway. “These run through the whole Station?”

  “Pretty much. I have a schematic on the AI in my kit if you’re interested. You can check it out while I’m doing my chores.”

  “Bad habit from my old day job.” Descending a rusting ladder to the next level, he laughed. “I always like to know the full layout. How long have you been on the Station?”

  “Two years. Three more to go, got a five-year contract.” She stopped in front of a door. I don’t want to talk about the damn contract. Not with him. “Ready?”

  “Amaze me.” Charlie thought he’d figured out what their destination must be and he was right—one of the station’s hydroponic gardens—but the lushness and sheer variety of the vegetation took his breath away when he followed her across the threshold. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, not even on the biggest battleships.” He ventured a few paces into the chamber and did a slow 360, seeing several bushes of vibrant roses, a tiny vegetable garden full of sprouts, and the more standard plants usually grown in dense mats to refresh canned air. “You have a serious green thumb. My mother would be beside herself with jealousy.”

  “Really?” Rose was blushing and fiddling with the clasp on her toolkit.

  He went to the garden plot, running his hand across the feathery carrot tops as he stared over at the neat row of chives. “Oh yeah. The dancing was amazing enough but having seen this, I can tell all your talents are wasted here.”

  After setting the kit on the deck, she walked to the control panel and studied the readouts, adjusting a setting here and there. “I’m in charge of the other hydroponics rooms too, including the one for the restaurant kitchen. Some of my stuff I got from them. I ordered the roses from the Inner Sectors, hid them on a bigger order for a couple of fruit tree saplings we got specially for the station manager.” She flashed him a mischievous smile. “After all, they’re in the same plant family so if the nursery made a slight mistake, shall we say, it was explainable. But no one ever caught on.”

  He watched the robos moving through the gardens, pruning, watering, and noticed more than a few were inactive, displaying flashing red lights or no lights at all. “Why doesn’t Maintenance do something about the out of service mechanicals?”

  She sighed. “As the mines go dark, the Station scales back. Used to be three of us techs, plus a lead. Management laid off the other two techs and didn’t replace Gus when he retired. As far as the robos, Maintenance concentrates on the things Management cares about, which are the upper level hydroponics and the robots there. I can manage pretty well down here as long as these three units keep working. I do wish that one still functioned.” She pointed at an idle machine standing tilted and dark in a nearby row. “It was specialized for the care of the basic plants. I get bored with them, no challenge.”

  He bent over, rummaging through her tools. “Let me see what I can do, rather than standing around being useless.”

  Hands on hips, she watched him. “Too late to tell me you’re a robo tech, soldier. Your cover is already blown.”

  “You’d be surprised what a guy picks up in the military these days.” After selecting a few items, he strode to the robot and commenced a diagnostic routine. Nothing he couldn’t fix, especially with some bypass tricks and shortcuts he bet the Station techs had never heard of. Charlie thoroughly enjoyed the next hour or so, puttering on an upgrade for the robot while Rose reprogrammed a couple of the other units, then weeded her vegetable beds by hand, humming a tune. From time to time she checked in with him. It had been years since he felt so relaxed. So content. “Hey, come watch,” he said in a raised voice, knowing she was a few rows away. “I’m about to initiate your friend here.”

  Rose hurried to join him, graceful even in the clunky work shoes and hideous coveralls.

  With a bow, grinning like an idiot, Charlie sealed the final closure on the robot’s access panel and depressed a button. The mechanical gardener came to life with a panoply of glowing lights, straightened and moved smoothly to the nearest empty growing chamber. The robot ran a scan over the length of the tray before it rolled to fetch root sustenance chemicals, then activated the nutrient solution flow. Seeds flew through the air in a graceful arc from an internal storage compartment, pelting the prepared solution trough as the horticultural unit moved away from them.

  Rose clapped her hands. “I’m impressed. And grateful. Consider us equal on breakfast.”

  “I still want to take you to dinner.” He dropped the tools into the satchel and stretched. “Hey, what’s the big open space for, over there?”

  “Sometimes I come here to practice, or work out new dances. The security vids are mostly burned out in this area, so I know I’ve got privacy. It’s not an ideal space, but the best I can do.” She strolled to sniff the roses, avoiding his gaze. “I dance for myself, the stuff I wanted to do, trained myself to do, when I was a kid.” Her voice was low.

  Sensing this was something important to her, Charlie chose his words carefully. “Uncritical audience of one here. I’d l
ove to see. Your show last night blew me away, you know.”

  “Really?” Giving him a shy smile, she kicked off her shoes and moved into the center of the space, walking rapidly, as if to start her performance before losing her nerve. She swept her mass of unruly curls into a messy pony tail. As Charlie followed her, he realized she’d installed a couple of old solar reflectors, scratched and pitted, as a makeshift mirror.

  While she made a music selection on her AI, he sat cross legged at the edge of the dance floor. “I’m all attention.”

  Rose inhaled and assumed a position, arms raised gracefully above her head, fingers pointed, feet heel to heel. As the music began, she lifted and made a series of pirouettes, moving across the floor in a beautifully intricate dance, one motion flowing into the next, steps fluid and precise. Charlie was transfixed, half-believing she’d transformed into a bird in front of him, utilitarian clothing notwithstanding. When she ended the dance, frozen in a triumphant pose— back arched, head and neck in an elegant curve, hands impossibly graceful—as the music cut out, he realized he’d been holding his breath. Rising to his feet, clapping, caught in the emotion of the dance, he walked into the center of the floor, catching her in his arms. “You transported me into some other world,” he said, holding her close.

  “I’m sure my technique is rusty and I’m supposed to have a partner for some of the steps, not to mention special shoes.” She plucked at her overalls. “And a pretty costume.”

  He hooked a finger under her chin, gently raising it until he could gaze into her eyes. “You were amazing. Just you. Nothing and no one else required.”

  “Thanks.” She swallowed hard and broke away from him, going to retrieve her shoes. “This style of dancing wouldn’t go over well with the typical audience at the casino.”

  “Screw them.” He followed her, helping her rise once her shoes were on.

  “I’m too old to dance like that professionally anyway,” she said, reaching for the water. “But I could teach. Or choreograph.”

  “You should follow your dream, not be stuck here on this station.”

  She rested her forehead on the nearest column. After a moment he realized she was crying and he drew her into his arms. “What is it? What’s wrong? I didn’t mean to be disrespectful—”

  Shaking her head, Rose said, “It’s not you. I’m scared.”

  Protective instincts engaged, his adrenaline kicked in. “Of what? Let me help.”

  “You can’t. No one can.”

  Disturbed by the way she trembled, wanting to offer comfort, he guided her to a nearby workbench and lifted her to sit, perching next to her. “Tell me.”

  “Last night Management told me the corporation is closing the mines. All of them. Not enough ore left to justify the cost of operations any longer. Kumisarc’ll be closing the casino, laying off the workers. Probably keep a skeleton crew here at the station to assist in decommission and transition. Management’s taking Hector, that bartender you met, the lead pit boss, a dealer or two and me.”

  “Taking you where?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. The destination hasn’t been decided.” She clutched his hand. “We’ll be put into cryo sleep, reawakened at our new assignment. No guarantee we’ll even be together. And the idea terrifies me. At least here I knew everyone, and I was close to home, not that I ever wanted to go back there but I could, you know? If—if something bad ever happened, I could get there and there’d be people who would help me. I won’t have that assurance anywhere else. And even though my gramma doesn’t recognize me anymore, she’s there.”

  “Rose, this is bullshit. Come with me tomorrow. I have friends on the freighter crew, they’d cut me a deal on your spacefare. I promise to take care of you if you’ll let me. I’ll make sure you’re happily settled on my home world.” Having to say goodbye to her tomorrow was increasingly unthinkable to him, even though they’d just met. There was a connection between them, possibilities humming in his mind and heart. Charlie shut down a thin thread of doubt. Could she be playing him? Trying to use his obvious infatuation, sympathy and credits to get him to help her? Rose didn’t seem like that type at all but really, what did he know about her? He just needed more time—they both did—and if she came with him, no strings attached, he’d be doing a good deed. And then they could take the time to know each other—

  She was shaking her head, refusing his suggestion even as he half regretted making it. “I can’t leave, three years left on my contract, remember?”

  “Buy it out.”

  “I don’t have that kind of credits, Charlie.”

  “Seven hells, I’ll buy it out. I can afford it.” As soon as he made the impulsive offer, he knew it was a mistake, might insult her despite his honorable intentions. He tried to make amends. “We can call it a loan. Pay it back when you can. No strings.”

  She slid off the bench, her movements elegant, and walked to the rosebushes. As she picked off dead leaves, she said, “I’ve never met anyone like you. I wish we had more time because I think—I know—we could be good together, crazy as it sounds so soon after meeting you. You’re special, soldier, I can tell.” She let the crumbled brown vegetation float to the deck as she stared at him. “But you buying my contract isn’t right. I can’t accept. It would put everything between us on the wrong footing, even if we called it a loan. I’d always know I was bought and paid for.”

  “Rose Caludi, I never meant it like that.” He tried to tamp down his anger at himself for being clumsy. She had pride and backbone, which was part of her attraction for him. “I said no strings and I meant it, soldier’s oath.”

  “I know, but I can only tell you how I’d feel. I’m sorry I involved you in my troubles. If you want, once I get to my new assignment, we can stay in touch, see how things stand when the three years are up.” Sniffling a bit, she tried to regain her composure. “Maybe I can emigrate to your planet then.”

  “I’m not satisfied, but I won’t pressure you. With my contacts, I can make sure we don’t lose sight of each other, wherever you’re assigned, if you want?” He didn’t trust the Kumisarc Corporation in the least and felt her misgivings about the forced transfer were probably justified. But she obviously wasn’t going to let him help her, no matter how much attraction was growing between them. Which ought to make him happy, since it answered some of his doubts. He realized he was grinding his teeth so hard his head ached. If only he had more time. But friends on the crew or not, the soon-to-arrive freighter wouldn’t wait for him to woo a woman, and her employer could whisk her away at any moment. “I promise—no, I swear on my life, if you need help, I’ll be there.”

  Rose nodded. “I believe you. Thanks for the reassurance.”

  Eyes wide, she watched him as he walked to her. He fished in his pocket, drew out the golden token. “Here, I want you to have this, to remind you of me and my promise. I wish I had something better to pledge—”

  “No, it’s perfect.” Smiling, she took the coin from his hand. “We met when you dropped it at my feet. Maybe I’ll have it made into a necklace.”

  “Three years from now you can give it back to me when I come get you, wherever Kumisarc’s moved you.” He tried to inject all the emotions flooding his heart into the words. “If not sooner.”

  She came into his arms and he kissed her, the sweetest caress he’d ever shared with a woman.

  Her personal AI began to buzz, the sound growing louder and more insistent. “I’d better answer,” she said. “I am on duty after all.” He released her and she keyed the message. “Uh oh, I’ve got to run.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Kumisarc management’s been assessing the mines and a group of their executives is coming to the Station for a private party tonight. My boss is calling me in early to dance for them and stay for the dinner.” She stuffed things inside her toolkit at random for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at him. “Guess I’ll have to take a raincheck on our date. I’m sorry.”

>   “Hey, gotta do what the boss says.” Fists clenched, he swallowed hard against the frustration rising in his gut. He wanted every moment he could get with her. “I’m disappointed but maybe we can have breakfast tomorrow—my treat—before my ship gets here.”

  Catching his hand, she said, “Or a nightcap at my place maybe and then I can fix us breakfast tomorrow?”

  He did a double take, not sure he’d heard correctly but she was smiling at him. His pulse kicked into high gear. “I’ll be there.”

  Rose agreed he could walk her to the casino when she was ready, so after a quick shower and a change of uniform, she knocked and walked into his apartment. His kit bag lay open and military gear fanned neatly out on the floor around him. Charlie was working on something small. “Give me a minute and I’ll be ready,” he said.

  She walked carefully around the periphery of his equipment, noting not one but two serious blasters. “Why do I have the feeling you were no ordinary soldier, my friend?”

  “I have the resources to make sure we can stay in touch no matter where Kumisarc transfers you. No bullshit. But for now, I want you to take this.” He handed her a small black and gold button. As she rolled the object in her hand he repacked his gear with no wasted motions, and sealed the duffle.

  “What is it?”

  “Best I can do right now. Do you still have the golden token?”

  Feeling heat in her cheeks, she knew she was blushing as she fished the coin from her pocket and handed both items back to him.

  He made swift work of cutting the token open with a thin beam from a laser cutter, inserting the button and adjusting it so it seemed a part of the previously blank surface of the coin. A moment later he gave her the altered token. “Press that between your fingers and I’ll get pinged.” He tapped his skull behind the left ear. “Implant, left over from when I was in the Teams. Use it to let me know when you’re ready to be picked up tonight. Or if anything happens you don’t like. Promise me?”